Alexander Graham Bell descendants upset after Parks Canada calls inventor a eugenicist - National Post

Copy URL Facebook Linked In X (Twitter) Loading account options Sign In Manage Account Close account menu Manage Account Sign Out Loading subscription options Subscribefor $0.50/week Alexander Graham Bell, his great-grandchildren say, did not try to prevent deaf people from marrying other deaf people, nor was he against sign language. (Getty Images) By Chris Knight November 5, 2026 at 1:40 p.m. Last Updated: November 5, 2026 at 1:50 p.m. The family of Alexander Graham Bell, the Scottish-born Canadian inventor of the telephone, is upset over a planned redesign of a commemorative plaque that could add that he was a proponent of eugenics and held controversial views about deaf people.

Bell was designated as a national historic person in 1977 by Parks Canada, which installed a commemorate plaque in Baddeck, N.S., near his summer home where he died in 1922.

The plaque says he “devoted his life, with unusual success, to the benefit of mankind,” and that he “produced important inventions and discoveries in medicine, aeronautics, marine engineering, genetics and electrical science, and greatly advanced the methods and practices of teaching the deaf.”

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